The Burden of Truth
by DragonFlavor
Summary: The Tenno were gone for hundreds of years, and only now have they returned. Amnesia has befallen the once honorable species, and only one has been gifted with the knowledge of the past. Will this individual be able to decipher the scattered memories, or will he fall prey to the Stalker that follows him?


**Hi. Because I have lost the outline of my previous story, if I don't find recover it, I'm going to have to put it on hold until further notice. For those of you who liked my story, I'm sorry but a string of events led to the loss of my storyline. I posted this story to show that I'm not gone, and I'm not going to give up on my previous story. Once I find it I will get started IMMEDIATELY! Hope you enjoy this one while the other one is searched for! :D**

**UPDATE 1/31/14**

**Alright, so I decided I'm going to make this a third-person perspective story so I can get have a wider spectrum on future characters' thoughts and ideas. And just because I feel my work turns out better if I do third-person perspectives (despite my brain's constant nagging that I should make my stories first-person). I don't know, it just feels like I can write things in much more detail. Also I felt that my character was all too emotionless despite having lost his memories, so I wanted to incorporate a bit more feeling this chapter.**

**I'll be keeping memories or dreams first person considering they're going to involve the memories of one single person. If I don't think the sections sound very good though, I'll probably turn them Third-Person too.**

**Hope you still enjoy it despite the changes though.**

* * *

They were called Tenno. Warriors of blade and gun - masters of the Warframe armor. Those that survived the Old War were left drifting among the ruins.

Now they are needed once more. The Grineer, with their vast armies, are spreading throughout the solar system.

A call echoes across the stars as a menace approaches...

* * *

The echoes of gunfire rang out from several directions, with no known origin. My blade was coated with the blood of boundless enemies, my Lato and Braton empty, hollow. _How long have I been fighting like this? Days? Months? Years? What was I even fighting for?_

_I can't remember. I'm tired. So tired._

But I can't stop. To yield is to die, I know that much. The enemy takes no prisoners, they make sure of it. Some of my comrades have already fallen into their hands, they didn't survive long.

_What were their names? I don't know._

_What was my name?_

* * *

"Wake up."

The Tenno's slumber was torn from him like a jolt of electricity. Everything is so hazy, it feel as though his mind had scattered to all directions and only now had it been pieced together. A quiet hiss emanated from every direction before vertigo suddenly overwhelmed him.

It felt like years before he finally hit a hard surface. If the vertigo hadn't woken him up, the impact certainly did. The Tenno tried to lift himself up only for his arms to shudder as if trying to support himself on noodles. In an attempt to shock some feeling into his sleep-ridden muscles (and slight irritation), the Tenno struck the ground with a closed fist. It worked and it also appeared he'd activated something, if the almost unnoticeable whirr of rebooting tech was any indicator. The Tenno could see a faint glint of light glide across the surface of his body, painting the surface a deep blue. I_s this my skin?_

" I am the Lotus-"

_What? Where is that coming from? The Tenno jolted in surprise, turning to find the voice's origin._

"I will guide you, but we must hurry. Vor is coming for you. I see the cryosleep has taken your memory. It does not matter. You are Tenno. I will prepare you."

She didn't give the Tenno very much time to ponder her words before she piled information on him.

"A Warframe shows your vital statistics, this shows your health," she said as an indicator flickered to life at the very corner of the Tenno's vision. The red numbers obviously indicated the body's physical state, they read 150 in bold numbers. Above it the Tenno could see an image of what he assumed was himself, with a clear text reading _"Excalibur"_. _Is that my name?_

"This may hurt," He didn't even get a moment to register Lotus' words before a strong electrical current rocked his shoulder. He flinched slightly, mostly from nthe surprise, before noticing the health indicator drop.

The Tenno nodded at what she was trying to point out before she spoke again. "Your health does not recharge. Touch this healing sphere before we continue.

Something was telling him to turn around, the reaction was instinct, pure situational awareness notified him that there was something behind him. The Tenno turned to see a glittering red orb sitting in a position just beneath a hanging cryopod. As per Lotus' orders, he reached out to touch the object and it was quickly absorbed into his fingertips. The numbers at the top right of his HUD indicated that his physical state had been restored and he could feel the relief of instantaneous rejuvenation quickly set in, before dissipating.

A set of blue numbers suddenly popped into the Tenno's Warframe indicator, just next to his health, and Lotus spoke once more, "Now I have engaged your shields. Shields absorb damage before health is effected."

He felt that familiar jolt of electricity suddenly strike, although clearly dulled down by some unknown force. Sure enough, his shield indicator dropped. She quickly pointed out how his shields recharged before she moved on to the next lesson. Again, a brief flash of energy glided across the Tenno's body before disappearing completely.

"I will show you the Tenno fighting system," Lotus continued. "It has three forms. Let's begin with your secondary weapon."

Unconsciously, the Tenno reached for his hip in an attempt to grab a handgun. He didn't thing about the action at all, in fact, he didn't even remember owning a handgun in the first place, which is why he was so surprised when his hand actually touched the grip of a pistol, it was a Lato. The action must have been ingrained into his mind after so many years of repetition. He couldn't remember though. Also, he could of sworn he was unarmed when he was woken up.

A hologram suddenly appeared several feet across from him. It took the form of what appeared to be a very tall human with several mechanical limbs. It wore very bulgy armor most likely for improved protection against the elements and outside forces. The face was completely obscured from view, but the Tenno could hear the mutter of a strange alien tongue in a deep raspy voice that he couldn't understand.

Lotus gave a brief command to destroy the target and, figuring it was the only thing he could shoot, the Tenno set the hologram in his sights, before pulling the trigger several times, causing the entity to stagger before finally disappearing in a plume of energy.

Another indicator, this time the bottom right, popped into the Tenno's vision. On it was a picture of his sidearm, along with the weapon's name and ammunition. "This display shows the clip size and total ammo you have," Lotus pointed out. "You can find ammo on dead enemies and in the environment. Take the ammo and reload your weapon."

Again, the situational awareness itched at the back of the Tenno's head and he turned around. Sitting on the same place as the health sphere was a small magazine. He quickly picked it up and reloaded the Lato to test the weapon indicator. It worked like a charm.

"Excellent. Next we switch to your primary, switch weapons now." The Tenno reached over his shoulder to grab a weapon, sure enough, there was a rifle mounted just below his shoulderblade. Upon equipping the rifle, the weapon indicator changed to display the rifle's name: the Braton, and its image. Lotus gave another command, "Destroy these targets", to which two holograms popped into existence.

Raising the rifle, the Tenno unloaded his rifle into the two human-like figures. He gained a strange sensation as he fired the weapon, as if he had done this action so many times before that it had been tattooed into the laces of his mind. Somewhere along his past life, he must have been a warrior. With every kick of the rifle against his shoulder, his mind seemed to travel deeper into itself, trying to reminisce with memories of the past.

At that moment, he felt something. It came at him like a freight train. Thousands of images flashed before his eyes, too fast for his mind to understand or react. _Wait, WAIT! _

They were memories, **his** memories. They rocketed past his vision, not giving him the chance to look inside and regain his lost past. In a flash they were gone, and in that brief moment he couldn't help but feel lost and rejected. _Why can't I remember? Why!_

"Well done," the Tenno heard the praise of Lotus come ringing inside his ears. _What?_ He looked ahead to see the holograms laying across the ground before they disappeared like the last. _When did I-_

"Do you see the indicator below your weapon and Warframe?" Lotus cut him off of his thoughts. _I doubt she'll let me figure out my origin at this time. She seems a bit jumpy._

Deciding to deal with the problem of his past later, he leveled his gaze at the indicator she mentioned. It was a small bar right below the weapon and Warframe images.

"This is affinity. You increase affinity during combat and missions to come. Increase your affinity to unlock the power of your arsenal."

The Tenno nodded to himself in understanding, and she continued. "Your third and final form is melee. Your melee weapon is always at the ready."

One more holographic target appeared ahead, however this time it was sprinting directly towards the Tenno, unarmed however.

"Destroy this target with your melee weapon."

Reacting to Lotus' command, the Tenno reached behind his shoulder once more, mounting the Braton and brandishing a wicked sword from between his shoulderblades, the Skana. He rushed the holographic target head-on before leaning to the left just as they got within arms length, swiping the Skana across it's abdomen as the hologram reached to grab him. The entity felt entirely solid, the Tenno could feel flesh being sliced cleanly as he ground the blade into the hologram's abdomen. The rest was easy, it took only a twist of the Tenno's body to swiftly decapitate the hologram. The hologram showed every graphic detail, characterizing the head as it rolled across the floor, before the entire hologram disappeared completely.

"The Tenno must use these forms in combination to destroy their enemies. Attack these targets using blade and gun." Lotus didn't give the Tenno another second, summoning several holograms, this time with weapons. Two of them rushed towards him with, what appeared to be large butcher knives as the others targeted me with strange rifles.

The Tenno quickly unsheathed the Skana and swung it down just as one of the butchers made a swipe at him. The entity's hand fell clean off and it screeched as hit held its empty stump. The Tenno was spared a second thought as bullets glanced of his armor, the gunmen were beginning to pelt him with bullets. The Tenno took a glimpse at his shields, reading 79, before rolling to the side as the other butcher attempted a downward slash. Said Tenno brandished the Braton and fired at the closest gunmen. _There's that feeling again._

The gunman's effort at retaliating was worthless, so many bullets to the skull said hologram could do nothing. The Tenno turned to a butcher as the gunman fell limp. He made the mistake, however, of directing his attention to the remaining gunman, thinking that the butchers weren't something to be worried about. _Never underestimate your opponent._

As soon as the gunman was eliminated, the butcher struck and a searing pain quickly encompassed the Tenno's shoulder. He turned his head to see the butcher pulling his cleaver out of his shoulder, preparing to strike again. The Tenno rolled to the side, evading the second slash completely and stopping at a crouch just out of the butchers reach. Before the butcher hologram could even recover from his second swing, bullets rained on it with ferocious accuracy. Soon, It too fell under the cold grasp of Death's hand.

The Tenno instantly unsheathed his blade at the sound of heavy footsteps behind him. The grip on his blade tightened and muscles tensed an rumbled with power. He slashed horizontally as he turned to face the remaining butcher. The Skana sliced through the butcher's torso as if it was tissue paper, shredding clean through artificial muscle and bone with ease. The act split the hologram in half to reveal its intestines as they began their trek to the cold floor. When the pass ended, the butcher fell in two parts to the floor before the halves and intestines exploded into plumes of energy and disappeared.

As the Tenno sheathed his Skana, Lotus spoke again. "Excellent. As you level, you will unlock points to customize your Warframe and weapons. I will unlock a power now to demonstrate its use."

Just below the name on the Tenno's Warframe indicator, a small icon flashed once before permanently residing in a small slot. The icon was dim however, signifying that certain requirements weren't met to use the ability.

"Powers consume energy. Absorb this energy sphere," Lotus' voice droned.

A bright blue orb appeared in the same position as all the others and the Tenno quickly absorbed it, intending to finish his training to point his attention to that of his lost memories.. As soon as the energy sphere was completely absorbed the ability indicator lit up.

"Now, unleash your power on this target," Lotus ordered before another hologram appeared several feet away.

Out of pure muscle memory, the Tenno gained a stance with his sword. As he held the hologram in his sights, an unknown force suddenly tugged at his arm. He let the muscle memory control him, and his arm rippled with restrained power as he gripped the hilt of his sheathed Skana intensely. The next moment, the very power he had absorbed rippled across his entire body. He could feel the world stand completely still as he dashed forward, unsheathing my blade and taking off like a rocket towards the holographic target.

The target stood right in the path of blade and without any time to react, the razor edge sliced clean through. The both halves stood where they were only a faint line to indicate the cut the Tenno's blade had made. Once the Tenno's movement stopped, he sheathed his weapon and turned to survey his work.

The entity was still standing as one piece. He could hardly see the line. Eventually the cut let itself be known, the holographic body suddenly fell to its knees and the top half of its torso fell back, while the bottom fell forward. The Tenno couldn't help but wince at the gruesome sight.

Lotus didn't seem to register the Tenno's actions, she appeared distracted. Her voice was once calm and robotic was now distracted and laced with worry, "We can't afford to waste any more time. You must get to extraction before Vor finds you. Hurry, Tenno."

_I get the feeling I don't want to run Vor…_

The Tenno looked at the only object that resembled a portal and began to walk towards it before noticing that it wasn't a portal at all; it was more of a force field. Soon, the field of energy began too shimmer multiple times before completely disappearing as Lotus worked her magic. The doorway revealed a wide room with a catwalk-like structure. The wall ahead clearly showed that the structure had been compromised. The road that led out was made up entirely of molten stone, several small stalagmites hung from the ceiling making the cave look like a mouth with large teeth.

The Tenno ran forward with the Braton at the ready. In his mind, however, he could only hope he avoided direct confrontation with whatever was coming. Vor sounded like trouble; he didn't want to see what earned Vor his reputation to instill fear first-hand.

His movement was cut short as bullets glanced off his armor, striking against the Tenno's back, and his shields dropped to 89. _So much for avoiding direct confrontation._

The tenno turned his head to see two tall, humanoid figures aiming at rifles with rifles. They appeared to be the lifeform the holograms represented; very tall, human-like, bulgy armor. Where the holograms failed to capture the beings faces, physical confrontation revealed everything in great detail. Their flesh was scarred; at some places rotted. The Tenno narrowed his eyes to see that the two had the same facial structure, with the exact same details.

He paid them no mind, sprinting forward to avoid their line of sigh as the gunmen attempted to take him down with terrible accuracy. As the Tenno turned the corner he was met with three more of the lifeforms. Like the last two, their faces where completely identical in every which way.

Not giving them a chance to attack, he got as close as he could to the first while the creature's head was turned to speak to the others and pierced the creatures chest with the Skana. The blade passed through the individual's body completely; it had taken a lot of force to do so, however. By the time he pulled the weapon back, the Tenno's arms were trembling from the sudden exertion.

Sliding around the falling body, the Tenno quickly sheathed the sword before brandishing the Lato. As soon as the gun's barrel met his targets face, he pulled the trigger and blood splattered across his helmet when the bullets penetrated the gunman's skull. As bullets penetrated the alien's skull, bullets glanced off the Tenno's chest and he turned his head to meet the gaze of the last gunman. The Tenno sprinted to the side before sliding across the floor and avoiding the stream of lead entirely. Bullets glanced off the stone floor as he rolled to the side again, stopping just behind hisd target. As the gunman made to turn around, the Tenno brandished the Braton and leveled it to his target, catching it with several shots across the chest, making it buckle. Chunks of flesh were blown off by the constant stream of lead and soon the creature's head fell prey deadly volley, before it finally fell to the floor, dead.

The Tenno didn't spare a second glance, dashing towards the exit. After minutes of sprinting through the endless cavern, the exit finally revealed itself. It wasn't over though, he could feel it. Something was waiting for him.

_There's something here…_

His hunch was correct, he had only been able to take a couple steps before his luck finally ran out. There was a bright flash of yellow light that bathed the snow ridden landscape and a lone figure stopped the Tenno in his track, several feet from his position. This was him; this was Vor.

The Tenno hardly had a chance to register his entry before Vor fired a seething beam of light in his direction. With as much speed as he could muster, the Tenno brandished his Skana with the intent of redirecting the beam of energy.

The instant met the beam, the Tenno could feel his arms burn with the surge of electricity, as if the attack was draining his strength. Eventually, the sensation began to spread across his entire body and a searing pain began to overtake him. He tried desperately to redirect the attack by turning his blade, but with the amount of force he was trying to defend against, the effort was taxing. The Tenno could only watch as his shields and health deteriorated before his very eyes. The exhaustion finally overwhelmed him and the constant current forced him to drop the weapon before it struck him in the chest, draining him of whatever health he had remaining. He was leveled to the ground as his Skana sailing across the air before impaling itself inside the frost coated stone.

Before he knew it, he was facedown against the floor. His arms burned as he attempted to pick himself up. The attempts were useless, he could only succeed in turning himself to look at his attacker with his eyesight hazy and body sore, he could hardly breathe as it felt as if his chest had been caved in. In this vulnerable state, The Tenno could only watch Vor as it walked towards him with a snug grin plastered on his rotted face.

_F-fuck…_

The Tenno didn't get to ponder why Vor's grin suddenly disappeared to be replaced by an angry sneer. The Tenno's exhaustion had finally one over, and his wounds would most likely lead to his death. The short amount of time at I had at my disposal had now come to an end.

_I don't even know my name… I can't die like this, not yet…_

* * *

Violent flames licked away at every surface that lay in its path. The once bright reds and violets were now blackened and gray, turned to ash. The enemies we had been ordered to exterminate lay in pieces in front of us.

We had finally won. The battle was over. I took one glance at the place that was once a beautiful landscape decorated with bright pink and white trees and lush green grass. It was now a barren wasteland. Remorse began to set in, how could someone destroy such beauty. _Did I play a part in this? Was I involved in the destruction of this place?_

There was chatter coming from behind me and before I knew it, I turned my head and walked away, never to look back to what once was a gorgeous landscape of harmony.

Peering at my faceless comrades, they nodded to me, acknowledging my feelings. This destruction was unjust and immoral.

The Orokin would never agree to this. After years of serving them, we found out what they really were. They were not the honorable, fair rulers we thought they were. They were cold, dispassionate machines. Throughout the years, we began to learn more and more of the Sentients we fought. The Orokin sent us to war without sympathizing our enemy, as such, we never knew what they were fighting for and we cut them down, believing they were the criminals we were to judge.

The Sentients wanted their homeland returned to them. They wanted to start their lives they way they had thousands of years ago, without war, without turmoil. The Sentients lived in large communities where they interacted together, where they helped each other. They wanted they back.

We had finally won. The battle was finally over.

_Was it really a victory?_

Was it fulfilling knowing we had destroyed a righteous species? Some of which had no way to defend themselves against us; the honorable Warframes? No. There was no honor in killing a species that was severely outmatched. Our creators had deceived us, drowned our heads in lies. Now it was our turn to seek retribution. This time, we were their reckoning.

* * *

**Again, my apologies for losing my previous storyline, but I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of The Burden of Truth! I would very much appreciate it if you reviewed, and I support any form of CONSTRUCTIVE criticism! If there are any things you dislike, I'll see what I can do to make it better.**


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